Seven children were among 49 people who drowned in waters across Russia on Saturday as scorching heat blankets large swaths of the country, the Ministry for Emergency Situations said on Sunday.

“A total of 65 incidents were registered on the country’s water bodies over the past 24 hours — 49 people died,” the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.

That is 10 more drowning incidents than on the same day a year ago, Russia’s RIA state news agency reported.

Over the past week, Russians braved some of the hottest weather seen in more than a century, with Moscow breaking a 1917 record and cities across the world’s biggest country sizzling in temperatures well above 35°C.

Russia’s Service for Hydrometeorology said on Friday on its website that abnormal, sweltering heat was expected across most of the south of European parts of Russia over the weekend, with temperatures rising in some places above 40°C.

In the Nizhny Novgorod region in central Russia, a 10-year-old girl drowned in the vast Volga River and her six-year-old sister disappeared, with divers still searching for her, the emergency ministry said.

In the Bashkiria region, which lies between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains, three people drowned, including a 16-year-old girl, the ministry said.

Opinion

Editorial

Who to believe?
Updated 23 Aug, 2024

Who to believe?

Even established experts seem to be in the dark about what the authorities seek to achieve and at what cost.
Attock van attack
23 Aug, 2024

Attock van attack

A FULL investigation is in order to identify and punish the culprits involved in Thursday’s ghastly attack...
Climate and trade
23 Aug, 2024

Climate and trade

CLIMATE change is affecting us all, across the planet. Record-breaking sea and surface temperatures, and associated...
Signs of trouble
22 Aug, 2024

Signs of trouble

The administration cannot leave people in the affected areas at the mercy of terrorists.
Plugging the gap
22 Aug, 2024

Plugging the gap

IF fiscal prudence is a virtue then Pakistan’s budgets have been an exercise in vice for the last many years. This...
Karachi accident
22 Aug, 2024

Karachi accident

TWO innocents are dead. Amina, 26, and her father, Imran Arif, 60, were killed this Monday when a speeding SUV ...